On a sun-splashed Thursday at Coors Field, with fans’ growing apathy reflected in the 18,593 paid attendance, they toppled the Brewers 7-2.

It was a victory that masked the ugliness of the first month.

Losing the first two home series of the season should qualify as shameful. For the Rockies, this is normal, the 3-9 start fitting in with a 3-9 mark last year and a 20-loss April in 2023.

That alone is reason to remain disgusted with this team. But worse, the Rockies possess a quality that most professional organizations avoid like gas station sushi: They make players soft.

Has there ever been a pro team in our city more comfortable losing?

This is why what I unearthed in the postgame clubhouse offered a morsel of hope. We want the players to care, to show that they are no longer treating Coors Field as a 4A minor league weigh station, that they realize results matter.

Ryan McMahon wants to be part of the solution if this team ever gets good again. He gets it.

Filling the leadership void created by Charlie Blackmon’s retirement, he spoke to the team after Wednesday’s 17-2 ear boxing by the Brewers, a travesty that featured four errors and a flammable bullpen.

“I am not really a loud guy. I am more of a one-to-one guy. When there are times that something needs to be said, I won’t be afraid to say it,” McMahon said. “Most of the time, it’s how you react in baseball and life. I think the guys took the message well.”

For way too long, too many players have been just happy to be here, and even more have been here only because the Rockies are the worst team in the National League.

The Rockies are on pace for a third consecutive 100-loss season, and there is no reason to suggest any moves will happen. Owner Dick Monfort values loyalty over competence. Patience over consequence.

This is what happens when a franchise operates in a vacuum, shakes its fist at the clouds about a salary cap and treats analytics like hieroglyphics.

Nobody expects this team to flirt with a .500 record. But is it too much to ask them to compete? To locate a compass and single-mindedly pursue a destination. We all agree that the Rockies are a draft-and-development organization that doesn’t draft or develop well. But manager Bud Black must embrace the youth movement.

“It’s hard,” Black said. “You want to win every game, but you have to balance the now with the future.”

The onus is on him to navigate the task. No excuses.

Keep giving at-bats to Zac Veen — he plays with his platinum blond hair on fire and delivered a celebration after his eighth-inning double that made me wonder if something was smoking besides his bat. Bring back Jordan Beck. If that means curtains for Sean Bouchard, who cares?

Any veteran in this clubhouse must bring an edge — as Ryan Feltner demonstrated by working out of a fourth-inning mess with a primal scream. They must set an example that will help the development of Veen, Chase Dollander and Michael Toglia.

The organization comes across as rudderless. Nothing is stopping the players from establishing a culture.

It is why the Rockies must release Kris Bryant. He is a nice guy. No one disputes this. It simply sends the wrong message to use a DH more concerned about not getting hurt than getting a hit. He has missed four starts in the first 12 games. At the same age of 33, Todd Helton played in 154 games with a surgically-repaired back.

The Rockies need swag, confidence. Brenton Doyle is one of few who fit this description.

“Ryan gave us a good speech. That was a rough one,” said Doyle, who delivered three hits and five RBIs in the win. “It shows a lot about us on how we responded.”

Watching the Rockies lightbulb flicker, the juxtaposition with the Nuggets remains striking.

They robbed the winningest coach in franchise history of his dignity Tuesday, firing Michael Malone to give the team a chance for playoff redemption. They canned general manager Calvin Booth to demonstrate their distaste for the team’s performance and the tension the pair fostered.

This as they woke up Thursday with the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. The Rockies will need a telescope to see the postseason by month’s end if they are not careful.

The Kroenkes excel at silence, at living in the shadows. But regardless of my opinion on Malone’s exit, at least they want to win.

Is that thought even allowed at 20th and Blake? The concept has become foreign. And rarely discussed because that would demand Monfort holding accountable Rockies lifers who have failed upward.

Maybe Thursday is the start of something, of a retreat from embarrassment. Monfort is not selling the team. He is not hiring a real president, desperately needed to diminish the owner’s influence on baseball decisions.

Progress will happen only if Black holds players to a higher standard, if McMahon and others keep reminding their teammates they are sick of losing.

“It is about understanding we are better than (what happened Wednesday). We don’t need to just settle. We can make (bleep) happen,” McMahon said. “I think you saw that.”

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This is what makes Carter King different. When DU hockey coaches recruited him, he heard exactly what he wanted to hear, no words spared.

“The coaches were honest with me right from the start. They let me know where I stood, what I needed to improve on to even have a chance to play. That’s something that I really appreciated, and it helped me,” King said before a recent practice. “Every day was about trying to prove to them that I deserved opportunities.”

This is a story about what you have to do — to survive, to endure, to thrive. King grew up in Calgary, Alberta, learning to skate on a frozen lake with his older brother James and father, Stephen. He showed promise at hockey, but did not widen scouts’ eyes.

With his Surrey Eagles junior team’s season canceled because of COVID-19, King arrived at DU on Jan. 8, 2021. He played in three games. Never sniffed regular shifts. He was, by his estimation, the 14th forward in a room of 15.

What he did next defined his career and has put him back in the Frozen Four seeking a third national championship, beginning with Thursday’s semifinal matchup against Western Michigan.

King finds motivation in rejection, driven to prove people right who trust him.

“I knew how special this program was. If I expected to be a first-line guy right away, I wouldn’t have come here,” King said. “I wasn’t mad. And I wasn’t surprised I wasn’t playing. I wasn’t worried about it because I knew I had to get a lot better.”

While most players look for the knob to the transfer portal when they feel unseen — “There was never a single thought about going somewhere else,” he said — King had belief. And a vision for his future.

He morphed from an unknown reserve to an invaluable 20-goal force on the country’s highest-scoring team. How he did it was more impressive than what he accomplished. He became the model of consistency in the classroom and weight room.

On Sept. 27, before this season, coach David Carle named King team captain.

“He was a fourth-line player on our 2022 championship team. Each year he has had more and more on his shoulders. So he’s really been in every role all guys have been in. It makes him really relatable for the good and the bad any player is experiencing,” Carle said. “He can say, ‘Hey I have been in those shoes before.’ And he can offer his guidance and support where it’s needed.”

Leadership works best when it’s organic. Players see through eye-wash and teacher’s pets. At a program like DU, where success is measured by trophies, a “C” on the jersey is not an honor, but an enormous responsibility.

“You have to be yourself. You go through here, play for three years and everyone knows who you are,” King said. “And if you try to be someone you are not, it’s tough to create that right culture in the room.”

King is a blend of humility and confidence. His unlikely journey at DU — he began his career on a partial scholarship — helps his message land with teammates.

“He knows what the group needs and how to bring out the best in each player,” said goalie Matt Davis, who is also one of King’s roommates. “I think that is extremely valuable. He doesn’t just throw out blanket statements. He really makes sure that everyone in the room is doing OK.”

Added forward Connor Caponi, “We just look at him every day, and he’s doing everything right.”

If King’s senior season ended today, it would serve as a shining example of what is right with sports, proof that new vines can swing within reach. But King’s chapter is part of DU’s story, what makes the Pioneers the team of the current decade.

DU’s roster is littered with draft picks and future NHL players. King has played himself into a likely free-agent contract after the season (Wouldn’t it be cool if he signed with his hometown Calgary Flames?).

His journey is proof of DU’s meritocracy, of turning unheralded players into cornerstone pieces. Entitlement does not win titles.

“I think the great part about here is that if you put in that honest work and show improvement, you are going to get treated fairly and you are going to get an opportunity. We don’t really care how you started, or what you did in junior hockey. We are trying to reward and elevate people we think give us the best chance to win,” Carle said. “Carter didn’t shy away from tough conversations. He leaned into it and owned it.”

King sits second on the team in goals (21) and fifth in assists (43). But one statistic illuminates his evolution in the program. At the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Carle was unhappy with the team’s work on draws. The coaching staff held a face-off competition.

King won, and hasn’t stopped, recording 529 face-off victories this season, ranking second in the nation.

“I probably surprised them,” said King, a former center who had experience on draws in youth hockey. “I had to get a little lucky. It’s stuff like that you look back on and think, ‘What a crazy moment.’”

King’s focus on goals extends beyond the ice. He recently graduated with a degree in molecular biology. Not exactly an easy major while trying to find your footing in the nation’s top hockey program.

“I was always interested in science and learning about the body. I would love to get into the neurology side and work with concussions,” King said. “I have had a couple of concussions myself. And just the whole process of retraining the mind and coming out of that and healing the mind is something I am very interested in.”

There is a lesson in everything King has done. In a fluid collegiate sports landscape, he shows the value of hard work, the ability to turn interruptions into inspiration.

King was barely on the Pioneers’ radar five years ago. Now, watching him perform, seeing that C on his sweater, it is uncomfortable to think where they would be without him.

“When I was coming in, I was just hoping to crack the lineup my junior or senior year and make an impact as a role player. To be able to do what I am doing now, I definitely don’t take it for granted,” King said. “It would mean everything to win a third championship. What this place has done for me, to leave a legacy like that, I don’t even know how to put that into words.”

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As befits the title of the mural, “Catalysts” features an overlapping display of 35 unsung local arts-and-culture heroes. But the reasons why they were chosen — and the fact that Denver recruited the world-renowned artist behind the cover of The Beatles’ 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” — is unusual even in the realm of giant bear sculptures, red-eyed horses, and other major pieces.

“Denver has made exceptional use of their natural resources, if you will, in the public art scene, and other cities should be jealous,” said Jann Haworth, the 83-year-old creator of “Catalysts.” “The Denver mural is in its own kind of camp from my (other work). It’s community-generated. It’s workshop-generated.

“And the problem of a portrait is the most difficult thing you can do in fine art,” she added. “It isn’t necessarily an accurate photographic portrait of someone. It’s just a joyous piece of art.”

The three-paneled “Catalysts” features stenciled portraits of behind-the-scenes arts drivers “who are integral to the success and vibrancy of Denver arts and culture,” according to a statement. That ranges from maintenance staff at venues to nonprofit leaders, dancers and writers (read about each one at catalystsproject.com/honorees). They hail from groups such as Art from Ashes, Union Hall, Japanese Arts Network, Wonderbound, Youth on Record and many others.

Its three 26-by-24-foot panels are viewable on the side of the Buell Theatre, on Champa Street between 13th and 14th streets. Crews finished installing the mural this month, with a formal unveiling on March 14. But unlike some public art pieces, it’s temporary and scheduled to come down in two years.

“When talking with Jann we realized a lot of synergy between her practice and highlighting underserved organizations and individuals,” said Annie Geimer, a curator and leader of the Denver Theatre District’s special projects, which span 16 blocks in downtown Denver. “I loved her women’s mural in Utah and thought, ‘Why don’t we expand on that project?’ ”

The stenciled and colored portraits in “Catalysts” recall Haworth’s “Sgt. Pepper’s” style, but necessarily widen the subjects. She takes her depictions seriously, having completed Salt Lake City’s “Work in Progress” mural that includes 250 women integral to the history of the town where Haworth currently lives.

As a British-American Pop Art pioneer, Haworth emerged from England’s early-1960s art scene and has for decades put herself at the intersection of art and politics. Her feminist themes, exploration of “soft sculpture” (sewn and fiber materials), and willingness to reinvent herself has led to hundreds of installations and shows worldwide, including simultaneous shows in the U.S. and Europe.

“It’s an honor to reflect certain things that really need saying, and this is a public platform to do that,” Haworth said, referring to the top-to-bottom efforts at arts nonprofits. “Sometimes you feel like your other work is not as out there as a mural on a wall that lots and lots of people are going past.”

Haworth sees her piece as overlapping with street art, and Denver’s history with the medium — from groundbreaking Latino artists to festivals such as Denver Walls — as uniquely indicative of it. It’s ever-evolving, just like the art scene, Geimer said.

“If you view it as a sample or a mid-way report on what’s going on, there’s always more to be said,” she noted of “Catalysts.” “We were really intentional about who we reached out to, these people doing behind-the-scenes work that allows organizations to function — volunteers, security guards, cooks. It recognizes the people who take extra time and dedication to help these groups.”

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Senate Bill 148 fell at the measure’s first hurdle on 2-3 bipartisan vote by a committee. The bill would’ve expanded a 31-year-old Colorado law that bars lobbyists from donating to campaigns during the legislature’s 120-day annual session.

Had the bill passed, the proposed year-round prohibition would have bumped Colorado into the ranks of a handful of states that more broadly limit lobbyist donations to the policymakers they’re trying to influence. But it failed to get out of the Senate’s State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat, sponsored the bill and is the committee’s chair. He said the bill was intended both to “catch up the law” to modern realities — lawmaking and meetings with lobbyists extend beyond the bounds of the legislative session — and to improve the public perception of government.

Weissman was the subject of a dark money-drenched primary challenge last summer, and a consumer-protection bill he sponsored was among the most-lobbied bills of last year’s session.

“People across the political spectrum are skeptical of government,” Weissman said Tuesday, two days before the vote. “That is a pretty bipartisan thing right now. So part of why I’m doing this is broadly stated: confidence in government.”

He added: “What we’re seeing around the world and beginning to see in this country is that when people cease to believe that representative government works for them, (and) their economic conditions aren’t tenable — they’ll start to entertain other things.”

Sen. Matt Ball, a Denver Democrat who voted against the bill Thursday with the committee’s two Republicans, said he was pleased with the state’s current transparency rules, which require that candidate donations be tracked and published online.

He worried that Weissman’s bill would simply shift spending elsewhere.

$500,000 donated in 2024 campaign — likely more

It’s unclear how much money is donated by lobbyists each year. While the state’s campaign finance system tracks donations by donors’ occupations, it’s an incomplete accounting. Donors must self-identify their professions, and while many lobbyists do so, others list their occupation as attorney, consultant or simply “other.” That self-identification may shift from donation to donation, too, further complicating tracking.

At a minimum, though, self-identified lobbyists donated just under $500,000 to statehouse candidates during the 2024 campaign cycle, according to state campaign finance reports.

Lobbyists typically are hired by corporations, nonprofits or government agencies to argue for or against legislation and policies. They are particularly powerful in Colorado: Legislative term limits result in significant turnover in the Capitol, with lawmakers generally limited to serving consecutive terms lasting eight years in each chamber.

Some lobbyists, meanwhile, have worked in the building for decades — and, in previous lives, many were legislative aides or officials for state agencies or governors. As lobbyists now, they’re often intimately involved in drafting legislation.

In an interview before the vote Wednesday, Lacey Hays, the president of the Colorado Lobbyists Association, questioned whether Weissman’s proposal would’ve survived a First Amendment challenge. The Constitution’s free speech provision forms the basis for much of campaign finance law, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision.

“We are individuals,” Hays said, “and regardless of our profession, there are people that we see and get to know on the candidate trail that we believe would be good patrons for their communities. To bar us from helping out their campaigns is just that First Amendment, constitutional (issue) — we think it just flies in the face of that.”

Twenty-nine states prohibit lobbyist donations during legislative sessions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan research group. Six states go further and limit lobbyist donations generally, as Weissman sought to do, NCSL said. Weissman said those policies have withstood lawsuits.

Few lobbyists besides Hays agreed to speak on the record for this story, as is lobbyists’ habit generally. Several prominent lobbying firms did not respond to requests for comment.

But privately, several lobbyists generally shrugged at the idea of limiting their own donations. Some joked that such a prohibition would just save them several thousand dollars every cycle, and others said it would end an expectation from lawmakers that lobbyists donate or hold fundraisers.

One said fundraising calls often begin almost immediately after each legislative session — when the state’s prohibition on lobbyist giving lifts until the next session.

Simultaneously, though, the lobbyists and Hays argued that $450 donations — the maximum allowed to individual candidates — weren’t enough to buy anyone’s vote, and they questioned whether they could be prohibited from offering donations on the basis of their profession.

“A $450 check from an individual is not buying anyone’s influence,” Hays said.

“Take their money … and vote against ’em”

Or, as Republican Sen. Rod Pelton said before voting against Weissman’s measure: “You wouldn’t make a very good legislator if you couldn’t take their money in the morning and vote against ’em in the afternoon.”

Weissman acknowledged that there hadn’t been scandals about lobbyists buying votes or abusing donations in Colorado (though lobbyists privately groused that some legislators made it known that they knew who had donated to them and who hadn’t).

Still, Weissman said, the fact that Colorado “was a bit better off in terms of the culture … doesn’t mean there’s not a good reason to do it, especially now in this era.”

The appearance of impropriety — of greased palms — was part of the motivation for the initial ban on lobbyist giving, said Doug Friednash, a former legislator who introduced the policy back in 1993. Friednash now works for lobbying giant Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, though he stressed that he was speaking on his own behalf, not for the firm.

When he ran the bill, he expected to get heat from lobbyists.

“What was eye-opening after I did that — the people that came to thank me were lobbyists. … Lobbyists were thrilled that they weren’t getting (pressured) to make contributions,” Friednash said.

As a lobbyist now, he said he liked Weissman’s bill for that reason, too. But he also questioned whether the bill was constitutional, and he echoed Ball’s argument that lobbyists would find a way around the prohibition: They could still give to political parties or certain fundraising arms, for instance, and the companies or groups that hired them could continue to donate, too.

“The system always finds a way for a workaround,” Friednash said. “Because parties raise money for candidates, (lobbyists) give to some party event or something with money that’s going to specifically go to these same candidates or candidate. I think it’s a lot more complex and complicated than just that simple narrow piece” of lobbyist donations.

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After months of multimillion-dollar funding appeals from cities across the country, the nonprofit film festival board announced Thursday that the famed event will move from its longtime home in Park City, Utah, to Colorado beginning in 2027.

Boulder beat out a combined bid from Park City and Salt Lake City, as well as one from Cincinnati, which revealed earlier Thursday that it was no longer in the running.

Boulder won due to its attractive mix of culture, including its mountain setting, technology sector, arts community, college population and community values, officials said at a celebratory press conference outside the Boulder Theater on Thursday afternoon.

The city is set to host the event from 2027 through 2036, with a potential 86,000 attendees and $132 million in economic activity, as Park City reported in 2024.

“Boulder will help write the future of the film industry,” Gov. Jared Polis said to raucous applause outside the Boulder Theater, echoing Sundance officials who praised the city’s amenities.

Dozens of people hugged and pumped their fists at the giddy Thursday event, where music played loudly and more than 100 people showed up to listen to the politicians, city boosters, and Sundance officials. Oscar-winning, Boulder-based filmmakers Daniel Junge and Paula DuPré Pesmen were also in attendance, with Pesmen praising the festival’s potential impact on local filmmakers from the stage.

The news means that Hollywood will now turn its focus toward the Front Range, which should benefit financially in January and February, when the trend-setting festival is held, an otherwise sluggish time of year for hotels and restaurants here. Add to that the promise of hundreds of Hollywood elite in limousines, dozens of red carpets and worldwide media coverage.

In response to a question from The Denver Post, Gov. Polis said the festival will become an “anchor tenant” in the state’s film culture, as it works with students and up-and-coming filmmakers and expands access to resources. He declined to say whether it would help encourage more legislative investment into the state’s film incentive programs, which have lagged far behind neighboring states in encouraging films to shoot here.

“This is an important part of showing how Colorado is here in the entertainment industry and the film industry, and of course, in and of itself, it’s an iconic event that we here in Colorado are going to help write a successful next chapter for.”

Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman started the entire process about two years ago, having reached out to old friend and former producer Gigi Pritzker, who’s now vice chair of the Sundance board, Pritzker said.

Sundance sees the heart of the festival as centered in downtown Boulder, with a variety of existing theaters and venues, and adapted spaces around the pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall. Various University of Colorado venues are also in play, said Todd Saliman, president of the University of Colorado, in an interview.

“Macky (Auditorium) is really the lynchpin,” added Lori Call, of CU Boulder’s communications department. “They’ve looked at Muenzinger Auditorium, they’ve looked at Glenn Miller Ballroom and they’ve looked at a host of venues affiliated with the (Folsom Field) stadium.”

As with Sundance officials, Gov. Polis has touted Boulder’s mountain backdrop, hotel capacity and Denver International Airport — not to mention festival founder Robert Redford’s ties to the University of Colorado, having attended college there.

Polis and state legislators have been working since last year to shore up incentives for the event, with a potential $34 million state tax credit for Sundance. The incentives would be doled out over the next decade, or about $3 to $5 million per year. A revised legislative bill — which would also leverage $500,000 annually to support “small or existing local film festival entities,” as sponsors put it — passed a final vote on the State Senate floor Friday morning, and is next headed to Polis’ desk.

While most legislators have supported the drive, State Rep. Bob Marshall of House District 43, called it a “taxpayer bribe” in a letter to The Denver Post.”

Now that it’s decided, officials from Sundance, the state, Boulder, and private donors and businesses will spend the next two years shoring up theaters, meeting and party spaces, and lodging options in a collaborative effort. It will include not only the state incentives but work from Boulder’s business boosters to meet Sundance’s high expectations for hosting, and surrounding cities that will absorb out-of-state travelers and related events.

Choosing Boulder cements Colorado’s reputation as a global film destination, joining prestigious events such as the Telluride Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, Boulder International Film Festival and Denver Film Festival, Sundance festival director Eugene Hernandez told The Denver Post on Thursday.

He has attended those events, and Sundance wants to play nice with all of them — including Denver’s SeriesFest, often called the “Sundance of television.” Hernandez, a former journalist who founded the respected film site IndieWire, has worked on SeriesFest’s staff in the past.

Like the 2025 Sundance event, which ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 in the resort town of Park City, Boulder’s will be programmed during the early months of the year. The festival was running out of space and goodwill in Park City, especially during the height of its lucrative ski season, Variety reported.

Sundance and business leaders vowed to make an impact outside of Boulder by continuing to support local filmmakers as part of its development programs, and to stay ahead of the festival’s needs, such as more venues and capacity for attendees at one of the world’s premiere independent film festivals.

“It all starts today,” festival director Hernandez said.

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Not that it was easy.

“I physically couldn’t find the studio my first year because I was scared to go in the basement,” said the 21-year-old strategic communications major. “But I (found it), and it was the best decision I ever made. There was no club at CU where I felt like I fit in, and the second I walked in here the vibe just felt so different.”

Underneath the University Memorial Building, down a concrete hallway just before a pair of blue dumpsters sits the scrappy, student-run station. It’s been around in some form or another for 46 years, starting as a satellite of KGNU (88.5 FM in Boulder, 1390 AM in Denver) and growing in strength before it got its own AM spot in 1998.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic put a sleeper hold on the station as DJ-driven playlists went silent over in-studio safety concerns, coupled with it losing control of its FM translators “due to unethical business practices by an area translator lessor,” according to its website. But now, it’s in the midst of a stunning comeback.

With a record-high 150 students involved this year, a new FM translator that widens its potential market to 3.5 million metro-area listeners, and an award-winning news team ballooning in prestige and listenership, the station is ready to compete in the Denver radio, podcast and streaming world.

“(The quality of) our airwaves right now — anywhere in the country, but particularly in this market — aren’t all that great,” said Iris Berkeley, general manager of Radio 1190 (1190.radio online) and its only full-time employee. “Like so many things, the pandemic was so deeply unkind to us” in terms of shutting down the studio out of safety concerns.

“But now we can say we’re leaps and bounds beyond where we were, even before the pandemic,” she added.

Berkeley sees the radio scene as a diverse, collaborative community, with Radio 1190 working in tandem with other stations’ coverage and programming.

Radio 1190’s stalwart support of weird, DIY culture in Boulder and (nominally) in Denver has been an influential part of the Front Range underground scene, with multiple student DJs and staffers graduating to stations such as Colorado Public Radio’s Indie 102.3 FM and other roles in the news media and music industries.

The lower-band AM sound quality of KVCU Radio 1190 has never seemed to bother its fans. But before Radio 1190 had the ability to stream playlists online, it likely wasn’t minting a whole lot of new fans, staffers said. As of Feb. 13, the nonprofit station — which operates under an FCC noncommercial license — can now be heard on Denver’s 92.9 FM.

Berkeley and Josh Shepperd, the station’s faculty advisor, are hoping to connect with record stores, music venues and bands in the Mile High City to promote the station’s new reach. At the moment, Radio 1190 is operating with a provisional license on their 92.9 FM spot, with a formal “hard launch” expected in the next couple of months.

Station honchos bought the new FM translator, which boosts their signal and gives them a firm presence in the Denver market, from Denver Open Media, Shepperd said.

He and Berkeley declined to say how much it cost. Berkeley and Shepperd also declined to say what Radio 1190’s budget was, instead describing its funding structure: monies coming from the College of Media, Communication and Information, as well as CU Student Government (itself funded by student fees). More funding comes from direct gifts — small listener contributions and student DJs’ parents’ donations — “and major donor the Stewart Family foundation (honoring the legacy of Colorado broadcast pioneers Lila and Bill Stewart),” Berkeley said.

The station is also hosting its first on-air fund drive in more than a decade, April 22-24, “with some really fun handmade thank-you gifts,” Berkeley said.

“The No. 1 recipe for continuity of the station is someone (at its head) who is an expert and quite dedicated at the same time,” said Shepperd, an associate professor and associate chair of undergraduate studies at CU Boulder. “That’s Iris. I’m also excited that more of the student community is now seeing it as a resource and a place to experiment creatively. The audience and the staff are really growing organically.”

Berkeley — who DJ’ed her own show on Radio 1190 in the early 2000s but says she lost it because she wouldn’t play the playlists prescribed by the station’s director at the time  — said there’s more freedom than ever at the station. The mix of silly and earnest messages on a chalkboard (including a cheeky portrait of actor Michael Cera) exemplify the playfulness of its staff, as does the lineup of shows: “Cold Cutz Deep Cutz,” “Workhorse Riot,” and “Synthpop Nonstop,” among dozens more.

The 25,000 floor-to-ceiling CDs in the studio give students a sense of continuity, too, with hand-scrawled notes from previous DJs inside each jewel cases assessing its play-ability. “BRILLIANTLY GENIUS” reads the note inside Aphex Twin’s 2006 release, “Come to Daddy,” which was labeled as Techno. “Absurd revolutionary eclectic electronic,” it adds. The station is also stocked with a generation’s-worth of Colorado music, said Paul Martin, host of the surf-focused Worldwide Waves of Reverb, and one of the few non-students with a DJ slot.

The news division is a much more recent concern than the music, said Samyukta Sarma, the 19-year-old associate news director and another DJ at the station. It’s bubbled up since the pandemic with new, original reporting that runs every day in an audio news-magazine format (i.e., longer pieces).

“I had a chip on my shoulder my freshman year because I was studying journalism, but I felt like I wasn’t doing any actual journalism,” said Nicholas Merl, a 21-year-old journalism major and Radio 1190’s print editor. “I stumbled onto this room completely by accident and just the vibe of the place told me this is where I could put my energy and have a purpose.”

He and the other news staffers, including news director Juanita Hurtado Huérfano, have been shepherding stories that explore how the freeze in federal aid affects students, as well as reviews, guest op-eds, and quirky stories from “esoteric topics” reporter Leon Spiess. Hurtado Huérfano and Spiess recently picked up a pair of awards at the Broadcast Education Association. Posts on its Instagram account also show staffers proudly clutching trophies from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System and College Media Association.

“When I first joined, almost two years ago, the news team was going through a rough patch with five members bringing you a one-hour news show each week,” Hurtado Huérfano wrote on Radio 1190’s website. “But seeing how we have grown since into a daily news show produced by a team of over 60 volunteers, I can only hope to continue bringing you impactful journalism, experimental audio storytelling, and the best underground stories.”

“Student freedom and First Amendment rights to (report) the news as they see fit is fundamental to the university system,” Shepperd said. “We do not interfere or tell them how to do the news.”

Radio 1190 will not know how many new listeners they have for awhile — at the very least until their translator is officially licensed in a few weeks (they’re currently operating with a temporary one). But with 1,000 people listening at any one time online, they know the potential is there, as it always has been for the students who discover its unique culture.

“This is a place now that I famously do not leave, because I’m down here for like 6 hours straight,” said John Meylor, who last year was a finalist at the International Student Broadcasting Championship for his podcast “Doxxing Truck.”

“I just didn’t know where to be, socially, at (CU)” said Jane Novel, a 21-year-old media production major and Radio 1190 DJ. “But I was drawn into it in my sophomore year, and everyone has since become part of my big circle of friends.”

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Denver Shroom Fest, a celebration of psychedelic mushroom culture, will not go on as planned in 2025.

On Thursday, organizers announced the second annual event, which was scheduled for June 15, has been cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances and some bad luck.” Co-founder Jonathan Cherkoss suggested the festival may not return in future years either.

“Denver Shroom Fest was a huge success, and collaborating with Colorado’s vibrant mushroom community was an incredible experience. Though a sequel may not be in the cards, stay tuned for more psychedelic events in the future,” Cherkoss said in a statement emailed to The Denver Post.

Denver Shroom Fest was preparing to welcome psychedelic enthusiasts, mushroom growers and more back to ReelWorks in RiNo after a successful inaugural year.

In 2024, the event marked something of a coming-above-ground party for the local psychedelics community. There were educational talks, live music and free samples of mushroom products – all possible because psilocybin is now decriminalized in Colorado.

If Denver Shroom Fest had happened on June 15, it would have taken place around the same time as Psychedelic Science, a massive conference focused on research, policy, and business, coming to the Colorado Convention Center from June 16 to 20.

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Friday-Sunday. Since moving to Estes Park in 2023, the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival has been “reborn,” programmers wrote online, with “national and regional touring bands and quirky, good fun all weekend long.” That bolsters an event already known for its weirdness, founded as it was around a cryogenically frozen corpse in a shed in Nederland — where the event was held for the previous two decades.

This year again features Frozen Dead Bar Crawl, the Royal Blue Ball (a dance and costume party), live music at various Estes Park bars and restaurants, Coffin Races, and the Polar Plunge. The Friday, March 14-Sunday, March 16 fun will be held at the Estes Park Events Complex and The Stanley Hotel, with satellite events occurring around town, producers said. Prices vary per event, with a full-fest pass costing $55. Daytime events are kid-friendly. 1125 Rooftop Way in Estes Park. Call 970-231-3777 or visit frozendeadguydays.com for more.

Butterfly Pavilion’s Mexican exhibit

Opens Saturday. The new Butterfly Pavilion exhibit, “Legacies: Invertebrates of Mexico,” replaces its “Origins: Building Life” exhibit this weekend to celebrate “the vital role invertebrates in Mexican culture and biodiversity,” as the museum said. The all-ages, conservation-minded offering includes millipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other invertebrates along with sensory elements (soundscapes, natural scents), live feeing displays and interactive educational activities.

It opens Saturday, March 15, at 6252 W. 104th Ave. in Westminster, and runs daily hours  (9 a.m.-5 p.m.). It’s included with general admission, $17.45 for adults, $12.45 for kids 2-12, and free for 1 and under (with discounts available). Call 303-469-5441 or visit butterflies.org for more.

St. Patrick’s Day pups

Saturday. While downtown Denver’s huge St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday is undoubtedly the biggest green event in the city this weekend (see denverstpatricksdayparade.com for more), there’s also Boulder’s adorable St. Patrick’s Day Puppy Parade. Held at Boulder Social, 1600 38th St., it features dozens of doggos dressed in their finest tiny hats, bandanas, beads and other festive gear.

Last year’s event at 38th Street and Arapahoe Avenue drew 150 parade-goers and 60 dogs, and organizers expect an even bigger crowd this year. Registration and activities begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 15, with the parade starting at 1 p.m. Adoptable dogs from POSO Dog Rescue will be on site along with sponsor booths, a dog-friendly patio and pup cups, and Irish food and drink specials for the humans. besocialcolorado.com/bouldersocial

Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival

Friday-Sunday. This film event focused on Asian American and Pacific Islander movies typically precedes the outdoor Dragon Boat Festival — although the latter’s 2025 dates haven’t yet been announced. This weekend, however, you can check out the full Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival, which explores diverse facets of Asian American culture — from opening night title “New Wave” and the animated “Pigsy” to community conversations, an Asian Marketplace, and a Sunday, March 16, culinary experience with tastings from Pho King Rapidos, Sweet Rice Flour, RiceBoxx Denver, Die Die Must Try, Spice Room and more ($27.31 per ticket).

All events at Denver Film’s Sie FilmCenter, 1520 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver. An all-access pass to the 10th festival is $90.40, with individual screenings for $17.84. denverfilm.org/cdbff

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She and her husband excelled in the kitchen, whipping up fresh seafood and ceviches from their homeland. But when it came to starting a business, they didn’t know where to begin.

Through social media, Aguilar discovered a Commerce City-based nonprofit offering Spanish-language business classes geared for Colorado’s Latino community, teaching the basics of finance, marketing, administration and U.S. culture.

Adelante Community Development even hosts a boot camp for entrepreneurs who dream of opening their own food truck — the Sal y Pimienta, or Salt and Pepper, program.

Now, Aguilar and her husband Ramon Lizarraga’s food truck, Pata Salada Ceviches, is so successful, they’re expanding.

“We Hispanics are hard workers,” Aguilar said. “We always try to do better and better, but sometimes we don’t have the right information, so that’s why Adelante makes a lot of difference in our community.”

Latino-owned companies are the fastest-growing segment of the United States’ business population, according to a 2023 report from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. U.S. Latinos own nearly 5 million businesses, generating more than $800 billion in annual revenue. Latino-owned businesses grew 57% in the U.S. between 2007 and 2022, whereas white-owned businesses grew 5% in the same time period, the report found.

Latinos themselves contribute more than $3.7 trillion to the nation’s economy, helping drive growth in the country.

In Colorado, more than 90,000 small businesses are Hispanic-owned, with Hispanics making up 20% of the state’s workforce and nearly 14% of its business owners, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Adelante Community Development founder Maria Gonzalez has her hand in building the largest Latino business ecosystem in Colorado. By providing training programs, she wants to ensure the state’s Latino entrepreneurs have the knowledge and support they need to succeed — particularly at a time when Latinos can feel attacked by a presidential administration hostile toward diversity and immigrants.

“As long as we’re doing things the right way, waking up with the most amazing energy, we are going to do good,” Gonzalez said. “We’re being targeted in this crucial moment, but all I hear in our meetings is, ‘We’re going to move forward.’ Yes, this might be very painful and hateful, but at the end of the day, we don’t give up. We’re very resilient, we’re hard workers and we are here to thrive.”

Building generational wealth

Gonzalez, who has been an entrepreneur for 25 years, struggled to keep her insurance business afloat during the Great Recession. She lost her house through foreclosure and her vehicle was repossessed. She didn’t know how to help her business recover and noticed other Latino business owners struggling without resources.

She became the resource she needed, founding Adelante in the mid-2000s after learning from local business courses.

Adelante offers multiple courses a year — all in Spanish — on accounting, digital strategy, business administration and helping entrepreneurs navigate the complicated web of licenses, insurance, taxes and regulations.

“We didn’t know how to register the business, so Maria helped us do that,” Aguilar said. “We didn’t know anything about taxes. The health department. The inventory. Now, we have a successful business and are planning on expanding.”

Pata Salada Ceviches, which imports its seafood from Mexico for authentic flavors, opened in 2023 after Aguilar went through Adelante’s $750 food truck training program. The organization offers scholarships for community members in need, although the federal funding backing that aid has since dried up, Gonzalez said. Adelante is looking for new grants.

Denver has been recognized as among the best places in the nation to start a food truck, but Gonzalez said the regulations to operate mobile businesses within metro Denver make the venture a bureaucratic mess.

“Food truck regulation is a nightmare in Colorado,” Gonzalez said.

To open a food truck, an owner might need to secure 10 to 15 different licenses, she said, and if an operator drives down the road to a new jurisdiction, all those licenses and regulations can become moot. That red tape can be confusing for anyone, but especially someone who doesn’t speak English, Gonzalez said.

Adelante helps its clients navigate the licenses and regulations, but is also pushing for legislation to make the process easier.

Gonzalez said she’s working with state Rep. Manny Rutinel, an Adams County Democrat, to pass a food truck operations bill that would establish a reciprocal licensing and permitting system between local jurisdictions so food truck operators wouldn’t need entirely new licenses to operate in a nearby city, like when crossing between Denver and Aurora.

In addition to the permitting, Gonzalez also helps her clients develop menus, design logos and strategize social media marketing.

Plus, the Latino-centric courses educate clients on cultural differences, such as the prevalence of paying with debit and credit cards in the U.S. compared to Mexico, where people predominantly use cash.

Financially, Gonzalez said a food truck can be a more affordable and less risky operation for a fledgling entrepreneur. Adelante has supported more than 200 food truck operators, Gonzalez said.

“You could buy a food truck within $10,000 and then go send it to a fabricator to make it compliant and pay another $20,000 and you’ve already got a business,” Gonzalez said.

Pata Salada Ceviches has plans to open a stall inside La Plaza Colorado, a sprawling Latino market and food hall in Aurora. With Adelante’s continued guidance, Aguilar dreams of owning brick-and-mortar ceviche joints in the future.

“I know if I build this business right, I can leave something for my two kids and they are going to benefit,” Aguilar said. “We try to explain that to them. They see us working hard and doing things right, and I hope one day they can keep doing this.”

Harry Hollines is the chief strategy officer at the Colorado-based Latino Leadership Institute, where he oversees the institute’s entrepreneurship accelerator, LEAP.

Hollines believes the future growth of the U.S. economy hinges on the success of Latino entrepreneurship. He sees Latino business ownership growing along with the state’s demographic shifts. By 2050, Latinos are expected to make up nearly 30% of the U.S. population.

Since 2000, Colorado’s Latino population has grown 72% — twice the state’s overall population growth rate of 35%, according to the University of California, Los Angeles’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute. Latinos are the second largest racial or ethnic group in the state, at 22% of the population

While Hollines is heartened to see the growth in Latino businesses, he said there needs to be an understanding of the difference between businesses making income and building wealth.

Latino-owned businesses tend to be smaller in scale, with only about 5% of Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. having employees and fewer than 3% generating more than $1 million annually, Hollines said. This means they have a harder time generating wealth at the company and ownership levels and within the community by creating workforces.

More resources should go toward helping Latino-owned businesses expand and grow, he said.

“If we don’t have entrepreneurs growing relative to the demographic shifts happening, you’re not going to have as many businesses, not going to have as many places to buy from and the dollars won’t circulate from the economy at the same rate,” Hollines said. “Latino businesses are important because we’re talking about the backbone of the U.S. and Colorado economy.”

“We need to feel secure”

In 2019, Erika Rojas was driving with her five kids when her car gave out. She called a local mechanic, who told her he didn’t like working with women.

The more Rojas talked with other women, the more she heard similar stories about women being disrespected or made to feel uncomfortable at auto repair shops.

The Aurora resident wanted to create a mechanic experience that not only catered to women, but also taught them basic car maintenance — like how to change a tire or use jumper cables — so they could feel empowered.

The move would be a career change for Rojas, who previously ran a catering business. She loved to cook but struggled to keep up with the administrative side.

“We need to feel secure, and we need to learn,” Rojas said.

Rojas, a native Spanish speaker, connected with Adelante and took its business courses. The organization helped her create a business plan and bring her idea — Pink Auto Services — to life. The small business is expected to open this fall in Aurora.

“Everything was up here,” Rojas said, tapping her head. “Now, it’s here in my business plan, and I can show other people.”

Rojas recently met with representatives of Pickens Technical College in Aurora to discuss a partnership in which the school’s auto technician students could get experience working at her shop.

Not only did Rojas learn from Adelante’s courses, but she said the organization’s one-on-one mentoring makes her feel like she has someone on her side as she enters uncharted career territory.

“Latinos need a space like this,” Rojas said. “Adelante is different. I see Adelante like my family. They make me feel comfortable, and I learn so much.”

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Founded in 1975 by Marilyn Megenity and relocated to its current spot in 1990, The Merc served food, coffee and adult beverages while booking diverse entertainers and community groups on its small ground-level stage and upstairs space. In addition to jazz, comedy nights and open mics, the space was known as a friendly, liberal alternative to sports bars and corporate chains.

But in 2021, Megenity sold it to local entrepreneur Danny Newman, who also owns My Brother’s Bar. Newman planned to revive the spot, but ran into problems due to family medical issues. He also grappled with employee complaints and the formation of an employee’s union. He eventually put the business up for sale, with the knowledge that a new owner might change it.

That happened Monday when the space, at 2199 California St., was taken over by The Pearl — an offshoot of Pearl Divers, a speakeasy located inside the Your Mom’s House music venue, 608 E. 13th Ave. Pearl Divers dubs itself a sapphic bar, or one that caters to LGBTQ women and nonbinary people. (Newman and his small ownership group will continue to act as The Pearl’s landlord.)

Like Pearl Diver, however, the new Pearl business will welcome everyone, from existing and longtime Mercury Cafe customers to anyone who wants to check out the space, work on their laptop, or grab a quick drink, said owners Ashlee Cassity and Dom Garcia.

They’ll also keep the Mercury Cafe’s staff so as not to disrupt what makes the business special, Cassity explained. “We’re booked with shows and events through the first of the year already, so we didn’t want the transition to (interrupt) all that hard work.”

Newman listed the building for sale in August for $2.5 million with the hope that a buyer would continue the Mercury Cafe’s progressive mission. He entertained several buyers until The Pearl’s owners showed up a little over a month and a half ago, having decided on the Mercury Cafe space over another they were looking at on Colorado Boulevard just north of East Colfax Avenue.

“I’m just ecstatic,” Newman said. “This group is so perfect for this space and I’m excited that we found each other. They have the true operating experience to make it happen and are going to just absolutely excel at this.”

The Pearl will be operated by Pearl Diver — Cassity and Dom — as well as Jonathan Mora of Tua Mama and Mora Pizza, who will offer vegan- and vegan-friendly options, and the promotions company Sapphic Collective, which will handle promotions and booking.

The Pearl Divers location inside of Your Mom’s House will close as the new Pearl location officially opens on March 29 with an all-women DJ event. Cassity and Dom’s intention is to give the space a facelift but ensure that “it remains a vibrant part of our community for years to come.”

The Pearl’s new cafe, The Rose Room, will serve Southern-inspired fare such as fried catfish while holding monthly seafood boils that harken back to Cassity’s Texas and Louisiana upbringing. Cassity and Garcia expect that service to begin the first or second week of April, with expanded hours that will see it opening at 8 a.m. every day.

Their current staff of 10 full- and part-time employees may grow, and the owners want to make sure current employees get the chance to stay on if they want to. It’s all about continuity and not messing with what’s worked, they said.

“We’re nervous because it’s a big space, but we’re excited to intertwine our own events with the calendar here for the best possible outcome,” Cassity said.

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